Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Faux Shark's Fin 碗仔翅


碗仔翅, literally translated from Cantonese words as Little Bowl Fins, is a very common street snack (街头小吃)in Hong Kong.

Chinese loves Shark's Fin but it expensive. So some smart person in Hong Kong must have came up with this idea of using Glass Noodle to replace the Shark's Fin. Now everyone can afford to have a few bowls of 'Fins' everyday if they want to.

Glass Noodles do look like Shark's Fin when they are cooked.



Ingredients:
  • 1 packet or 40g Glass Noodles, soaked to soften
  • 1/2 Chicken Breast or Drumstick, more if you like
  • 8 Dried Chinese Mushroom, soaked to soften
  • 4 Crabsticks, shredded
  • 2 Egg Whites
  • 750ml Chicken Broth
  • Cornflour Mixture (Thickener)
Seasonings:
  • 1 teaspoon Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
  • 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
  • 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
How to do it:
  1. Drain glass noodle, cut them into 2 inch length and set aside.
  2. Drain mushroom, slice thinly and set aside
  3. Boil chicken till cook, retain water to be used together with broth.
  4. Shred chicken and set aside.
  5. Add mushroom to the broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Add in seasonings.
  7. When it begin to simmer, add in chicken, crabstick and glass noodles.
  8. Gradually add in thickener, when the soup begins to boil.
  9. Stir in egg whites slowly.
  10. Serve with pepper and vinegar.

17 comments:

  1. Really look like sharks fin leh...
    I always thot 碗仔翅 has sharks fins in it, just that maybe one or two strands only....hhahahah!

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  2. Wah! shark's fin also u can prepare?!?!?! i don't think there's a need for your family to dine out right? haha.. do u want to deliver food over to my place everyday? i'll pay ! heheeh

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  3. hmmm...looks yummy! I want to try this when I feel less "NUA"! :p

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  4. you have NO idea how happy I am to find this ingenious substitution!!! I simply LOVE shark fin soup but can't afford it. I can't wait to do this tonight for supper!!

    ~ happy dance ~

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  5. Wow! So glad I spotted your blog just in time to see this soup! Yippee! Now I can make try it out! Thanks!

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  6. shark fin soup without shark fin?anyway, it looks delicious..

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  7. Tigerfish,
    No fin in it leh. Usually they put vegetarian fins which looks even more like the real one compared to glass noodles.

    Min,
    Hahaha ... we dine out every sunday leh. Food from the pro still taste better lah. ;)

    Mdm 2359,
    Hahaha .... when you are less busy lah.

    SteamyKitchen,
    I find it expensive too. I will only buy the real thing during CNY. :p Hope you like this. ;)

    East meets West Kitchen,
    Glad you visited too! Hope you lik this too. :)

    SomebodyHasToBe,
    Yeah, no shark fin. This is a poor man's indulgence substitute :p

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  8. It looks heavenly!! A great recipe!

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  9. Thank you Sher! And thanks for visiting!

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  10. i appreciate you posting this recipe. i came here from tastespotting.com.

    i'm a marine biologist/ecologist (and food obsessed person) that works in mexico and i've seen many sharks finned and then dumped merely because the price is so high for the fins and the rest of the body has no "value." unfortunately it has had noticeably devastating effects on the ecosystem here. so thank you for posting this!

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  11. Bajabucky,
    Thanks for visiting.

    Yes, I have heard and seen on TV about fishing for the Shark's Fins only. I wont be noble here. I like Shark's fin but for many reason, I decided not to have it if possible and this recipe here is quite a nice replacement. ;)

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  12. I tried this dish today and it's heavenly! Thanks for the recipe :)

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  13. Wiffy,
    Yeah, I saw your post! ;) Glad you like it. It cheap and good and no sharks were killed for their fins, eh. ;)

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  14. Hi wokking mum! I just wanna let you know i tried this recipe and it's great!! just like the real thing!

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  15. Hi! How many does this recipe serves?

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